Stockhausen's Samstag aus Licht
Opera for 12 soloists (voice, 10 instrumentalists, dancer), wind ensemble, and men's choir with organ
Cast
Damien Bigourdan — Stage director, Concept
Nieto — Visual creation, Concept
Florent Derex — Sound projection
Pascale Lavandier — Costumes
Myrtille Debièvre — Scenography
Catherine Verheyde — Lighting
Agathe Cemin — Assistant stage director
Program notes
Maxime Pascal and his trailblazing ensemble Le Balcon seek to expand the possibilities for musical performance and consumption, and to that end, their innovative production features a first for medici.tv: a binaural recording. Grab your headphones for the full immersive experience!
Begun in 1977 and completed in 2003, Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Licht (meaning “light”) is a vast cycle of seven operas that last a total of 29 hours and seek to recreate the world. Each opera of the cycle is dedicated to a particular day of the week, symbolized by a planet and numerous other elements derived from mythology. Under the influence of Saturn and Saint Francis of Assisi, Samstag (Saturday)’s principal protagonist is Lucifer, the “bearer of light”. On stage, the opera is a true musical and visual blaze of constant wonder, performed here in two parts: the first at Paris’s Cité de la musique and the second at the Église Saint-Laurent-Jacques-Saint-Christophe.
Photo © Nieto
